Teams work to curb environmental impact from oil spill in chalk stream
The River Wandle in south London has been affected by thousands of litres of oil leaking into the environment.
Thousands of litres of oil have spilled into the environment and polluted a rare chalk stream in London, officials have said.
The Environment Agency said an estimated 4,000 litres of oil had spilled into surface water drains and affected the River Wandle, a once-heavily industrialised chalk stream that has been revived and is now home to wildlife such as brown trout to kingfishers.
A spokesperson for the agency said: “On receiving reports of an oil spill on the River Wandle, officers were immediately deployed to limit damage to the local environment and working with the London Fire Brigade we have put in place measures to stop the leak.”
It is expected that the spill, thought to have come from a storage tank at a nearby bus depot, will affect the Wandle from Beddington to Wandsworth over the coming days.
The Environment Agency spokesperson added: “We are currently gathering evidence and assessing the environmental impact for our investigation, with the pollution source suspected to be a bus depot storage tank in Thornton Heath, Croydon.”
A spokesperson for Transport for London (TfL) said a “full investigation” was under way into the leak, which took place on Tuesday.
“Protecting the environment is fundamental to everything we do and we are working closely with Environment Agency, the London Fire Brigade and Merton Council to limit any environmental impact.
“Any pollution into London’s waterways is completely unacceptable and we will play our part in tackling river pollution both from roads we control and our vehicle fleet,” the spokesperson said.
The Wandle, which flows for nine miles from its source to the Thames, became heavily industrialised from the 17th to 19th centuries, suffering from severe pollution.
For many years the waterway was considered “ecologically dead”, according to the South East Rivers Trust, but there has been a considerable effort to clean up the river and it is now a popular walking trail.
It is home to brown trout, a key chalk stream species, which was re-introduced to the river, while the Wandle and surrounding habitats support wildlife including kingfishers, damselflies and bats.
Chalk streams are a globally rare habitat, most of which are in England, and face a range of threats including climate change, over abstraction of water and pollution from sources including farming, urban run-off and sewage.
The National Trust, which looks after nearby Morden Hall Park and Watermeads nature reserve said it was aware of a “significant diesel spill” that had entered the Wandle upstream from the park, which the river then flows through.
A spokesperson said: “We are closely monitoring the wetlands within the park and at Watermeads Nature Reserve, which is also cared for by the National Trust, for any visible impacts on the wildlife and rare habitats.
“Our waterways and wetlands are precious environments, and any pollution incident can greatly affect our wildlife.
“Our teams are working closely with the Environment Agency to help ensure the site can recover as quickly as possible,” they said.
